Maybe, Just Maybe, There Was a Reason
by EvilLordMoldyVoldy
Summary: It never explicitly states what Hermione was like before Hogwarts. Maybe everyone's assumptions were wrong.


**Disclaimer: Don't own it. Never will.**

**A/N: Maybe there is a different reason that Hermione tries so hard. We have no way of knowing what Hermione was like before Hogwarts. Never assume. Ignore any errors, please, I get 2 AM inspiration**

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"Miss Granger!"

"Yes?" An eleven-year-old Hermione looked up from her book.

"Now that you've finally graced us with your presence, could you answer this problem?"

Hermione looked up at the chalkboard, and it looked as though it was in a completely different language. "I don't know, ma'am"

Her teacher scoffed, then took Hermione's book. " 'Unexplained Phenomenon?' " Her teacher threw the book back down on her desk, and began walking towards the desk.

"You would have been able to answer it," The teacher began. "If you had been paying attention, instead of reading this _garbage_"

Hermione stood up at her desk, and to the surprise of her classmates, she yelled at the teacher. "It's not garbage!"

"Brainwashing your tiny brain with all of these outlandish ideas…" The teacher cast a stern look back at Hermione. "No wonder all the world is declining"

"It's real! Magic, ghosts, it's all real!" Hermione yelled, her eyes beginning to tear up. "I know it is!"

"What proof do you have?" Hermione's face drooped "That's what I thought. Now sit down, Miss Granger, or I will call the Headmistress on you."

Hermione sat down dejectedly. Someday. Someday she would prove it. It is real. It is real. IT IS REAL! Summer break was coming, and she knew something else was too. Something was coming. She knew it. She promised herself: no more episodes. No more reading during class. Only another week. She only had to survive another week of this torture, then she could search to her heart's content. She WOULD find what she was looking for.

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Summer came quicker than Hermione had expected. She had contained herself for the last week, but now her parent's were at their wit's end.

"Please." Mr. Granger pleaded with his wife. "This can't be good for her. Her head is filled with ideas of a world where ghosts walk freely, brooms can fly, and people can become animals. You should talk to her."

"But this is her passion." Mrs. Granger replied. "Other people's children are out joining gangs and doing drugs. We should be glad she chose something that is safer."

"Sometimes I wonder if it really is safer."

"I will try to talk to her" Mrs. Granger agreed. "But I really doubt she'll listen."

Mrs. Granger walked down the hallway, and knocked on the door of the last room. "Can I come in?"

"Of course." Hermione replied. "I'm just looking up the most plausible encounters. I hear about this building that looks like an abandone-"

"Hermione," Her mother sat down beside her on her bed, which was covered in books. "Maybe… Maybe it would be better if you would let go of this."

"I'm getting close. I feel it." Hermione urged. "I know it's coming. Soon you will see that I was right."

"That is exactly what I am talking about." Mrs. Granger put her hand on Hermione's arm. "I don't want you to give up your beliefs, I am just trying to protect you."

"But there is good with the evil, this isn't just dark…"

Mrs. Granger sighed. "That wasn't what I meant. I meant that… I just don't want you to spend your entire life searching, then end up realizing that it isn't real. I don't want you to be disappointed."

"Don't you realize I already think about that?" Hermione yelled at her mother. "Do you know how difficult it is to believe when there are hundreds of voices in your head telling you that you're wrong? I can face it, Because I have faith. These things… They can't be explained by nature or by human abilities. It has to be there. I know it is."

"If you are so sure," Mrs. Granger paused, reluctant to finish. "Don't give up on what you believe in. But it would not hurt if you were to lighten up a bit on your search."

"Thank you…" Hermione hugged her mother. "It may seem irrational to you, but that is what makes it so interesting. That's what makes me try."

"Good night." Mrs. Granger said, standing up and walking towards the door. She turned back around to Hermione, who was putting away her books for the night. "I know that this is a part of you, but don't let it become you."

She walked out the room, and joined Mr. Granger in the kitchen. Mr. Granger raised his eyebrows at her, and she shook her head.

"It went bad?"

"Horrible." Mrs. Granger poured herself a glass of milk. "Maybe she is right. Maybe magic is real"

"Oh, Don't tell me she is brainwashing you, too?" Mr. Granger chuckled.

"No." Mrs. Granger answered "But if she somehow finds proof that it exists, I don't want to have it rubbed in my face."

"Maybe."

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Hermione went to sleep that night, hoping to dream of an answer. Hoping that she was one day closer to an answer. She won't give up. She won't. No matter what others say, no matter the amount of criticism she received, she vowed that one day she would know that truth. She cast off that voice in her head that always told her it wasn't real. Yes, her answer was coming. But not in her wildest dreams would she have guessed that it would come inside an envelope the very next morning.

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**A/N: As improbable as this is, I think that if Hermione had really been the same way before Hogwarts that she was AT Hogwarts, then she would have said that magic was not real and did not exist. I think there was a reason she was always so eager at Hogwarts. **


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